Donor group meeting in Oslo: Palestinian Authority on the brink of financial collapse

The Palestinian Authority is on the brink of financial collapse.

Here, Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on July 25, 2019 (image illustration).

REUTERS / Mohamad Torokman

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The Palestinian Authority is on the brink of financial abyss with more than a billion euros in deficit.

It is on this subject that 15 countries and international entities are meeting on November 17 in Oslo for the donors' conference, one of the few forums where both Israelis and Palestinians are present.

This year, Israel is telling donors they must bail out the Palestinians.

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From our correspondent in Ramallah

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422 million euros, between January and September 2019, and less than 29 million this year.

International aid for the Palestinians has dropped drastically.

In question, there is the reduction in American aid instituted by its former administration, but also that of the Gulf countries.

The European Union has also suspended part of its credits.

Ironically, for the donors' conference in Oslo, it was Israel asking the international community to increase their aid to the Palestinians.

One thing is certain: the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority scares the Jewish state, which fears a loss of control, a devaluation of the quality of life of households, which would encourage the development of Palestinian demonstrations. 

Because if international aid, from the start, has been used to compensate for Israeli restrictions on access and movement of Palestinians, all economic analyzes lead to the same conclusion: without a review of this closure regime, without access to natural resources, without investment prospects, there will never be Palestinian economic growth.

►Also read: Israel transfers nearly a billion dollars owed to the Palestinian Authority

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• Palestinian territories

• Israel